This week we
are challenged with the important issue of circumcision. The Torah teaches us
that it is a commandment. This is perhaps one of the most misunderstood
commandments of the scriptures. I recommend Tim Hegg’s teaching on this
subject. More information can be supplied if requested.
“In his 1891 work
History of Circumcision, physician Peter Charles Remondino suggested that
it began as a less severe form of emasculating a captured enemy: penectomy or
castration would likely have been fatal, while some form of circumcision would
permanently mark the defeated yet leave him alive to serve as a slave. ”This is
an interesting context given by the historians because as Messianic believers
we have come to the firm realization that the one true evidence of being part
of YHVH’s covenant is being a bondservant. Bondservants were marked by having
their ears pierced with an awl.
Our Torah
Portion:
Gen 17:1 And it came to be when Aḇram was ninety-nine
years old, that יהוה appeared to Aḇram
and said to him, “I am Ěl Shaddai – walk before Me and be(become) perfect1.
Footnote: 1Messiah gives the same command in Mt. 5:48.
The Hebrews may not have celebrated birthdays but is
evident that they kept track of how old they were. In the above verse we can
assume that certain birthdays may have been occasions of significant encounters
with the Almighty.
These encounters with the heavenly messengers (no one except Messiah has ever seen YHVH and
lived-John 1:18, 1John 4:12) commemorated significant events in the lives of
those mortals who received them. This remains true even to this day. When the
scripture says YHVH appeared, we can safely assume a heavenly being
representing YHVH appeared. Some do not believe in pre incarnate appearances of
Yahshua because Yahshua is higher than any heavenly messenger.
Heb 1:4 having become so much better than the
messengers, as He(Yahshua) has inherited a more excellent Name than them.
Heb 1:5 For to which of the messengers did He ever
say, “You are My Son, today I have brought You forth”?1 And again,
“I shall be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son”?2
Footnotes: 1Ps. 2:7. 22 Sa. 7:14.
Heb 1:6 And when He again brings the first-born into
the world, He says, “Let all the messengers of Elohim do reverence to Him.”
Heb 1:7 And of the messengers indeed He says, “...
who is making His messengers spirits and His servants a flame of fire.”
Heb 1:8 But to the Son He says, “Your throne,
O Elohim, is forever and ever, a sceptre of straightness is the sceptre of Your
reign.
Heb 1:9 “You have loved righteousness and hated
lawlessness. Because of this, Elohim, Your Elohim, has anointed You with the
oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
El Shaddai is the name of YHVH that is connected with nurturing.
“Shad” in Hebrew is “breast”. So here YHVH is referred to as the “Breasted
One.”
The name El Shaddai is used 7 times in the Tenach and
this is the first time it is used. According to the law of first appearance in
the scripture, this is truly significant as it relates to YHVH preserving and
nurturing His covenant with us.
The Hebrew word “shad” is also a masculine noun. Caring
is also a powerful male quality.
The Hitpael (reflexive) verb is used for “walk” –
“hithalech” and means to walk back and forth or to continually walk before YHVH
in such a way that we are conformed into the image of Messiah.
Gen 17:2 “And I
give My covenant between Me and you, and shall greatly increase you.”
ב וְאֶתְּנָה בְרִיתִי,
בֵּינִי וּבֵינֶךָ; וְאַרְבֶּה אוֹתְךָ, בִּמְאֹד מְאֹד.
Note – “ve etna” means “I have given” The “hey” ending
emphasizes the intensity of the verb. The evidence of possessing His covenant
is great increase or fruitfulness in our lives. We may safely assume that this blessed
life carries over into the “olam ha ba” – the life to come.
Luk 19:17 “And he said to him, ‘Well done, good
servant. Because you were trustworthy in a small matter, have authority
over ten cities.’
Luk 19:18 “And the second came, saying, ‘Master, your
mina has earned five minas.’
Luk 19:19 “And he said to him also, ‘And you – be over
five cities.’
Luk 19:20 “And another came, saying, ‘Master, here is
your mina, which I kept laid up in a handkerchief.
Luk 19:21 ‘For I was afraid of you, because you are a
hard man. You take up what you did not lay down, and reap what you did not
sow.’
Luk 19:22 “And he said to him, ‘Out of your own mouth I
shall judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I was a hard man, taking up
what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow.
Gen 17:3 And Aḇram
fell on his face, and Elohim spoke with him, saying,
Gen 17:4 “As for
Me, look, My covenant is with you, and you shall become a father of many
nations.
Gen 17:5 “And no
longer is your name called Aḇram, but your name shall be Aḇraham,
because I shall make you a father of many nations.
Gen 17:6 “And I
shall make you bear fruit exceedingly, and make nations of you, and sovereigns
shall come from you.
Gen 17:7 “And I
shall establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you in their
generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be Elohim to you and your seed
after you.
Gen 17:8 “And I
shall give to you and your seed after you the land of your sojournings, all the
land of Kenaʽan, as an everlasting possession. And I shall be their
Elohim.”
Gen 17:9 And
Elohim said to Aḇraham, “As for you, guard My covenant, you and your seed
after you throughout their generations.
Gen 17:10 “This is
My covenant which you guard between Me and you, and your seed after you: Every
male child among you is to be circumcised.
Gen 17:11 “And you
shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall become a sign of the
covenant between Me and you.
Gen 17:12 “And a
son of eight days is circumcised by you, every male child in your generations,
he who is born in your house or bought with silver from any foreigner who is
not of your seed.
Gen 17:13 “He who
is born in your house, and he who is bought with your silver, has to be
circumcised. So shall My covenant be in your flesh, for an everlasting
covenant.
Gen 17:14 “And an
uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,
his life shall be cut off from his people – he has broken My covenant.”
Gen 17:15 And Elohim
said to Aḇraham, “As for Sarai your wife, do not call her name
Sarai, for Sarah is her name.
Gen 17:16 “And I
shall bless her and also give you a son by her. And I shall bless her, and she
shall become nations – sovereigns of peoples are to be from her.”
Gen 17:17 And Aḇraham
fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Is a child born to
a man who is a hundred years old? Or is Sarah, who is ninety years old, to bear
a child?”
Gen 17:18 And Aḇraham
said to Elohim, “Oh, let Yishmaʽĕl live before You!”
Gen 17:19 And
Elohim said, “No, Sarah your wife is truly bearing a son to you, and you shall
call his name Yitsḥaq. And I shall establish My covenant with him for an
everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Gen 17:20 “And as
for Yishmaʽĕl, I have heard you. See, I shall bless him, and shall
make him bear fruit, and greatly increase him. He is to bring forth twelve
princes, and I shall make him a great nation.
Gen 17:21 “But My
covenant I establish with Yitsḥaq, whom Sarah is to bear to you at this set time next
year.”
Gen 17:22 And when
He had ended speaking with him, Elohim went up from Aḇraham.
Gen 17:23 And Aḇraham
took Yishmaʽĕl his son, and all those born in his house and all those
bought with his silver, every male among the men of Aḇraham’s
house, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that same day, as Elohim
told him.
Gen 17:24 And Aḇraham
was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Gen 17:25 And
Yishmaʽĕl his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised
in the flesh of his foreskin.
Gen 17:26 Aḇraham
and his son Yishmaʽĕl were circumcised that same day.
Gen 17:27 And all
the men of his house, born in the house or bought with silver from a foreigner,
were circumcised with him.
Let’s take another look at circumcision.
The male reproductive organ seems to play a very
important role in the creation of physical as well as spiritual life.
Scholars seem to be more and more in agreement that woman
was made from a bone that came from Adam’s reproductive organ. This has huge
spiritual application – man did not come from the woman but woman came from the
man.
The following article sheds more light on the physical
aspect of Adam’s reproductive organ:
Wikipedia
- The baculum (also penis bone, penile bone or os
penis) is a bone found in the penis of many placental mammals. It is
absent in the human penis, but present in the penises of other primates, such
as the gorilla and chimpanzee. The bone is located above the male urethra, and
it aids sexual reproduction by maintaining sufficient stiffness during sexual penetration.
The female equivalent is the baubellum or os clitoridis –
a bone in the clitoris. “Another
genetic condition, extending to 100% of human males, is the congenital lack of
a baculum. Whereas most mammals (including common species such as dogs and
mice) and most other primates (excepting spider monkeys) have a penile bone,
human males lack this bone and must rely on fluid hydraulics to maintain
erections. This is not an insignificant bone. The baculum of a large dog can be
10 cm long x 1.3 cm wide x 1 cm thick… Human bacula have been reported, usually
in association with other congenital diseases or penile abnormalities.
Our opinion
is that Adam did not lose a rib in the creation of Eve. Any ancient Israelite
(or for that matter, any American child) would be expected to know that there
is an equal (and even) number of ribs in both men and women. Moreover, ribs
lack any intrinsic generative capacity. We think it is far more probable that
it was Adam’s baculum that was removed in order to make Eve. That would explain
why human males, of all the primates and most other mammals, did not have one.
The Hebrew noun translated as “rib,” tzela (tzade, lamed, ayin), can indeed
mean a costal rib. It can also mean the rib of a hill (2 Samuel 16:13), the
side chambers (enclosing the temple like ribs, as in 1 Kings 6:5,6), or the
supporting columns of trees, like cedars or firs, or the planks in buildings
and doors (1 Kings 6:15,16). So the word could be used to indicate a structural
support beam. Interestingly, Biblical Hebrew, unlike later rabbinic Hebrew, had
no technical term for the penis and referred to it through many circumlocutions.
When rendered into Greek, sometime in the second century BCE, the translators
used the word pleura, which means “side,” and would connote a body rib (as the
medical term pleura still does). This translation, enshrined in the Septuagint,
the Greek Bible of the early church, fixed the meaning for most of western
civilization, even though the Hebrew was not so specific.
In addition,
Genesis 2:21 contains another etiological detail: “YHVH closed up the flesh.”
This detail would explain the peculiar visible sign on the penis and scrotum of
human males—the raphé . In the human penis and scrotum, the edges of the
urogenital folds come together over the urogenital sinus (urethral groove) to
form a seam, the raphé. The origin of this seam on the external genitalia was
“explained” by the story of the closing of Adam’s flesh. Again, the wound
associated with the generation of Eve is connected to Adam’s penis and not his
rib.
A rib has no
particular potency nor is it associated mythologically or symbolically with any
human generative act. Needless to say, the penis has always been associated
with generation, in practice, in mythology, and in the popular imagination. http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2011/08/19/ncbi-rofl-what-did-god-do-with-adams-penis-bone/
The spiritual application of man’s
reproductive organ is revealed in circumcision.
It must be
noted that it was man and not woman who were called to be circumcised.
Circumcision was a sign of the covenant. Woman did not need such a sign. It is
assumed that through a special relationship the man a woman enters into
covenant with Yahveh. All Hebrew woman were meant to be accounted for and under
the protection of a man. This kind of idea has become very unpopular in our age
where the modern feminist movement pervades the thinking of man.
There is an
order in Yahveh’s creation that has never changed.
1Co 11:3 And I wish you to know that the head of every
man is the Messiah, and the head of woman is the man, and the head of Messiah
is Elohim.
The pattern for YHVH’s
covenant has never changed. He always seeks a righteous man with whom He may
enter into covenant with so that the seed of that man may be blessed. If the
man does not exercise spiritual leadership according YHVH’s Word his seed will
suffer the consequences, unless YHVH intervenes.
We can be certain that
in the last days – YHVH’s righteous patterns will be restored.
Circumcision was done
on the eighth day of a male infant. The eighth day refers to the time when
there will be a new heaven and a new earth and the New Yerushalayim. The image
of YHVH is not only found in a man but also in a woman. The image and life of
YHVH is best represented when a man and woman come together as one. This union
was also intended to produce the image and life of YHVH. This union will be
perfected on “the eighth day” – when our current heaven and earth have passed
away. It will be like the garden of Eden again but only more wonderful. It is
possible that the new heaven and earth will continually expand and be filled with
perfect life produced from perfect unions. How this exactly will happen – no
one knows.
1Co 2:9 But as it has been written, “Eye has not
seen, and ear has not heard, nor have entered into the heart of man what Elohim
has prepared for those who love Him.”1 Footnote: 1Isa.
64:4.
1Co 2:10 But Elohim has revealed them to us through
His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all matters, even the depths of
Elohim.
1Co 2:11 For who among men knows the thoughts
of a man except the spirit of the man that is in him? So also, the thoughts
of Elohim no one has known, except the Spirit of Elohim.
1Co 2:12 And we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit that is from Elohim, in order to know what Elohim has
favourably given us,
1Co 2:13 which we also speak, not in words which man’s
wisdom teaches but which the Set-apart Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual matters
with spiritual matters.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the matters
of the Spirit of Elohim, for they are foolishness to him, and he is unable to
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.